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Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Pivot to, or Brawl in Asia? West Already Targeting Thailand's New King

Not even a day had passed after the funeral rites for Thailand's
revered and respected former head of state, King Bhumibol Adulyadej
before the Western media began launching attacks on his heir and current
Thai head of state, King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

It is a development widely predicted
- with the United States and its European partners long-eager to pursue
regime change in Thailand as part of a wider strategy to either control
or destabilize Southeast Asia as a means of hindering China's regional
and global rise.First Shots

The article claims that Thailand's "draconian law" prevents criticism of
its highest institution, citing the arrest of a "student activist" for
sharing a BBC article slandering the head of state.

What AFP and other articles consistently and intentionally fail to
mention is that these "student activists" are US and European funded and
directed agitators, enjoying direct support from the US, British, and
EU diplomatic missions in Thailand. Embassy staff often accompany their
agitators to police stations and appearing in public with their family
members.

Image: Canadian
embassy staff publicly supporting the family of the above mentioned
jailed "student activist" Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, exposing such
"activism" as little more than foreign-backed agitation and
subversion.

In other words, those targeted by Thailand's "draconian law" are engaged
in both treason and sedition and could easily be charged and sentenced
for either - or both - and are instead granted lesser sentences, many of
which are pardoned long before they are fully served.

Similar articles have been appearing in the BBC, CNN, AP, and other
mainstays of Western propaganda before and after the passing of
King Bhumibol Adulyadej last year and upon the succession of his son and
heir.

The Reality of Thailand's Monarchy

Thailand's monarchy represents an entire institution
and spans centuries with the current dynasty being nearly 300 years old.
It has united and protected Thailand from foreign domination - leaving
Thailand as the only nation in Southeast Asia to avoid colonization.

Image: On
all sides Thailand - then called Siam - was surrounded by colonized
Southeast Asian states. It remains the only Southeast Asian state to
avoid Western colonization.

When French, British, and later American imperialism swept through Asia,
finding and exploiting socioeconomic and cultural fault lines in each
nation to divide and conquer them along, the unifying nature of
Thailand's highest institution and its cunning geopolitical maneuvering
left Thailand a bastion of stability and strength that remains to this
day unconquered.

Over the centuries, the monarchy has reinvented itself. Thailand - then
known as Siam - voluntarily abolished slavery in a period of time when
in Western nations conflict and race wars were waged - the effects of
which still reverberate in modern Western society. The Thai monarchy has
also - for over 80 years - been a constitutional monarchy unlike the
West's closest allies in the Middle East - several of which are some of
the last absolute monarchies on Earth.

As is in the case of any nation targeted by Western destabilization -
any attempt at all to rein in agitators and even outright terrorists is
condemned by the West's network of faux-rights advocates and its media
as "draconian." At a time when the United States bemoans alleged Russian
interference in its own domestic political affairs, its meddling abroad
in places like Thailand and its neighbors in Southeast Asia continues
unabated.

Today, the unity and geopolitical maneuvering characteristic of earlier heads of state continues.

Thailand has incrementally shifted away from the United States and its
influence in Asia Pacific toward its regional neighbors including China.

Thailand is also systematically replacing its Vietnam War-era US-made
arsenal with Chinese, Russian, and European equipment. It is replacing
its main battle tanks with Chinese VT-4s, as well as its armored
personnel carries with Chinese-made systems.

The acquisition of Chinese submarines, joint-development of multiple
rocket launcher systems with China, and an increasing number of joint
Thai-Chinese military exercises marks a dramatic shift away from the
West, and focused more within Asia itself. It is a process that has been
unfolding for years, carefully cultivated by Thailand's independent
institutions at a time when its "elected leaders" backed by the West
sought to bankrupt, divide, and derail the nation.

The transition from King Bhumibol Adulyadej to King Maha Vajiralongkorn
will have no impact on this process. The Thai monarchy is above all, an
institution that consists of not only the head of state, but a circle of
highly skilled and experienced advisers whom King Maha Vajiralongkorn
has retained from his father's council ensuring continuity for this
well-thought out policy.

The only real change that has occurred is the perceived window of
opportunity the West has to target and sow doubt in the minds of Thais
and the world regarding Thailand's sensitive transition as a means to
once again attempt to destabilize and divide the country.

The majority of their activity focuses not on actual rights advocacy,
but on attacking and undermining Thailand's independent institutions -
namely the military and monarchy - and both promoting the opposition as
well as covering up the abuses, impropriety, violence, and the
foreign-backed nature of the opposition.

There is the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT)
based in downtown Bangkok in which most Western media outlets house
their offices and where they regularly hold joint events aimed at
"making news" rather than reporting it. This includes providing
Western-funded agitators with a platform and an international audience,
as well as inviting Western diplomats to come and comment on Thailand's
internal political affairs.

There is also US proxy Thaksin Shinawatra, his Pheu Thai Party (PTP),
and his ultra-violent street front, the United Front for Democracy
Against Dictatorship (UDD) also known simply as the "red shirts."
Shinawatra - ousted from power in 2006 and his sister ousted from power in 2014
- has been the recipient of US support since the 1990s. Since 2006 he
has received lobbying services from some of the largest firms in
Washington while his political network receives Western support and
funding within Thailand.

Often, all three - foreign correspondents from outlets like AP, AFP, and
the BBC, along with PTP and UDD leaders, and members from America's
network of faux-NGOs can be seen meeting at the FCCT at the same time
along with foreign diplomats from the US, British, and EU diplomatic
missions in Thailand.

This interconnected network has and will continue over the next several
months to mount pressure on the military-led government to rush through
with elections the US hopes it can sufficiently manipulate to place a
PTP-led government into power. From there, the continued division and
destruction of Thailand will continue.

What the West fears most is further delays in Thailand's next election,
further eroding its proxy's political momentum which is already
suffering greatly as its populist policies have been put on hold and as
the current, military-led government addresses many of the socioeconomic
plights PTP has exploited for well over a decade to acquire political
dependence from the nation's populous northeast region.

And as Thailand's new head of state fulfills his role, the window will
close on doubts - real or imagined among the Thai population - over
"unpredictability." A diminished PTP together with a stable economy,
military, and monarchy will close the window of opportunity further
still for would-be regime changers in Washington, London, and Brussels.

With the facts in hand, articles pushed out by the Western media
attempting to malign Thailand's leadership can be exposed and their
effect on manipulating public perception diminished. Ensuring that such
propaganda gains no traction is the best inoculation against the
firestorm of violent regime change that has consumed other nations.
While genuine activists and media members have helped expose and derail
US plans in places like Syria, preventing conflict from erupting in the
first place is better still.